The City quietly released the 2011 Housing Vacancy Report last week, finding that there was a 3.12 percent housing vacancy rate (about par for a recession), that the housing stock was up to a record 3.35 million units, and that housing conditions were the best in the 46 yea and you should check ther history of the survey. The vacancy rate for apartments renting for over $2500 per month was 5.26 percent. There were also a record 164,000 units unavailable for sale or rent, mostly either being renovated or only used seasonally. If my math is correct, about 15,600 of the seasonal or occasional use apartments are regulated units in Manhattan.
The Appellate Division, First Department, yesterday found in Nestor v. Britt that landlords could not relocate an elderly tenant to an unregulated unit at a subsidized rent when seeking owner occupancy. The law requires relocation to an equal or superior regulated unit even though “It may be, as landlords argue, that the offer of an equivalent or superior stabilized housing unit in close proximity to tenant’s Upper East Side triplex apartment is not, realistically speaking, ‘an option in the current real estate market.’ ” Of course, that begs the question of whether that makes rent regulation unconstitutional in those neighborhoods where the rent laws prevent owner occupancy. Search in BranchRight.com for more information.
ABO is cosponsoring the National Realty Club lunch Thursday with Peter M. Locke, Principal, Head of Real Estate Investing at Blackacre Capital Management, LLC, the real estate arm of Cerberus Capital, a $14 billion hedge fund. ABO members pay the NRC member rate. Join us at noon at the Palm West, 250 West 50th St. Reservations required.